Gearbox issues with 97'er 2,4i

[JoergMoeller]

Good Morning,

since I bought my '97 Ford Maverick 2,4i, 5 door, 175tkm ist has some problem withe the gearbox:
- it drips a bit with oil at the frontside, probably the shaft seal
- when I changed the oil, there was some metal abrasion on the drain plug. No big pieces, but more I would like to see. I refilled with the original Nissan oil.
- with the original Nissan oil it got better but it's still sometimes hard to get into reverse. Usually it needs another release/push clutch cycle und I need to pull real slowly into reverse and it still makes some noise.
- shifting forward gears is working without problem (up and down) and the gearbox is running without noise (as far as I can tell)


Couple of days I managed to buy a 170tkm 2,4i gearbox (including transfer gearbox) on ebay: 25,50€ ;-) So that's a real bargain, usually the pros here are requesting 500-700€ the shift gearbox and 300€ for the transfer gearbox. The owner claims that the gearbox is working smoothly ;-) He exchanged it because of some oil dripping but after changing he figured out that the oil came through the vent.

Even if it works fine 170tkm is still much ... I was wondering if it makes sense to bring it to a professional shop for a revision. We have a shop around here that is capable of producing spare parts if needed. The owner focuses on performance gearboxes for motor sport and oldtimers. I know that this will cost some bucks, but I guess it's not so much fun to change the gearbox and realize that the old one was better than the "new" one ;-)

I know that not all spare parts fo the gearbox are still available. Does someone know which ones? Are this real genuine Nissan parts, like special shafts, gear-wheels, etc. or more general parts, like standard bearings or so, for which probably replacements are available.

I'm sorry for my English ... I hope it's understandable ;-)

Regards
Joerg

 

[jims-terrano]

Morning Joerg, sorry to hear about your troubles. I guess used parts are always a gamble.

Good Luck

 

[Banshee]

Speak to Rick, he's had/has more 2.4's than I've taken showers :lol

 

[solarman216]

Hi mate if you are having trouble getting reverse this is suggesting clutch problems rather than box issues, more info would be good, and I have good 2.4i boxes here (they are different to the TDi) but shipping to Germany could be the killer, Rick

 

[JoergMoeller]

Hi mate if you are having trouble getting reverse this is suggesting clutch problems rather than box issues, more info would be good, and I have good 2.4i boxes here (they are different to the TDi) but shipping to Germany could be the killer, Rick

Hey Rick,

I just bought a gearbox on ebay ... 25,50€ ... Cost me 6h driving with trailer on the Autobahn but it was a real bargain. The owner claims that the gearbox is running very smoothly. As it was a nice guy I tend to trust him. Anyway ...

Clutch problems ... well, that interesting and sort of unexpected. I'll gladly deliver some more details, but I#m not sure what kind of details are relevant.

The previous owner of the car claimed that the clutch had been replaced recently. But it drips with oil sinde day one. I haven't really localized where the origin is, but I guess it comes from one of the rotary shaft seals. And it was a old problem since the old TÜV report (like MOT) complained about oil from the gearbox. So I assume one would change the seals when he changes the clutch ... Like stated the reverse gear is hard to get in since day one ... Sometimes it works without problem but ususally you need to release the clutch 1 or 2 times befor it fits in. Forward gears are working fine up and down. The only thing is that you need to shift slowly an you can "feel" the gears shifting .. hard to explain ... it's not making noise, but you can feel how the gear wheels are moving. It got little bit better when I removed the old gearbox oil and replaced it with the original Nissan oil. The Nissan oil seems to be a bit more liwuid than the old oil. Since I never had a Terrano/Maverick before I can't tell how the gearbox should feel like when shifting. Some german forum userer claim that there is no synchronization of the reverse, blahblablah, ... so I'm kind of confused. I'm driving since 20 years, drove many different vehicles (including trucks, tractors, motorbikes), old and new ones, ... but this is weird ;-)

If there's anything I can check, any procedure to perform, .. I'll gladly do so.

Kind Regards
Joerg

 

[solarman216]

Sounds very much like the guy who fitted the box let it drop a bit at the rear end when fitting it, (it is a very heavy and difficult to handle lump) this will deform the center plate and cause it to drag when disengaged, if you have oil leaking from the bell housing it could be box oil or engine oil, to tell which let a drop fall onto a piece of flat glass then place another bit of glass on top and spread the oil out, if it looks at all dark it is engine oil, if clear it is box oil, Rick

 

[macabethiel]

Does double de-clutching fix the issue ?

If you try double de-clutching and this fixes the problem then you can be pretty certain its a clutch problem as the engaging of neutral between gear changes slows down or speeds up the lay shaft depending on if you are changing up or down the gears. This does not usually help reverse selection as much but it is worth a try.

In the case of selecting reverse try engaging first gear as normal then go to neutral with the clutch quickly let up then into reverse as normal.

Often you can cheat a little by simply holding the lever so it just starts to engage reverse for a couple of seconds before engaging it fully if you get my meaning. If either of the above works I would suspect the clutch is not clearing fully.

 

[JoergMoeller]

Sounds very much like the guy who fitted the box let it drop a bit at the rear end when fitting it, (it is a very heavy and difficult to handle lump) this will deform the center plate and cause it to drag when disengaged, if you have oil leaking from the bell housing it could be box oil or engine oil, to tell which let a drop fall onto a piece of flat glass then place another bit of glass on top and spread the oil out, if it looks at all dark it is engine oil, if clear it is box oil, Rick

Top tip ... I'll check what kind of oil it is.

 

[JoergMoeller]

If you try double de-clutching and this fixes the problem then you can be pretty certain its a clutch problem as the engaging of neutral between gear changes slows down or speeds up the lay shaft depending on if you are changing up or down the gears. This does not usually help reverse selection as much but it is worth a try.

In the case of selecting reverse try engaging first gear as normal then go to neutral with the clutch quickly let up then into reverse as normal.

Often you can cheat a little by simply holding the lever so it just starts to engage reverse for a couple of seconds before engaging it fully if you get my meaning. If either of the above works I would suspect the clutch is not clearing fully.

I'll try that also and let you know the result.

 

[scrumpydude]

Joerg,

I'll be watching this thread with interest as the problems you describe are similar to mine. I have good days (even weeks) with the gearbox and then bad days/weeks. 1st is the worst gear but it can be 5th as well. Reverse also. I try to time my gear change to 1st when I'm almost at a stop at traffic lights. Stop start traffic can be a nightmare. There is never any grinding of the gears (sounds of teeth meeting) just difficult to get into gear. And as I said it varies. Today was better than the last few days but not perfect. I've gone weeks thinking it's (more or less) fixed itself.

Interesting what Rick said about dropping the end of the gear box. I know (after speaking to the previous owner) that the gearbox was rebuilt about 30k+ miles ago (professionally).

 

[Banshee]

Joerg,

I'll be watching this thread with interest as the problems you describe are similar to mine. I have good days (even weeks) with the gearbox and then bad days/weeks. 1st is the worst gear but it can be 5th as well. Reverse also. I try to time my gear change to 1st when I'm almost at a stop at traffic lights. Stop start traffic can be a nightmare. There is never any grinding of the gears (sounds of teeth meeting) just difficult to get into gear. And as I said it varies. Today was better than the last few days but not perfect. I've gone weeks thinking it's (more or less) fixed itself.

Interesting what Rick said about dropping the end of the gear box. I know (after speaking to the previous owner) that the gearbox was rebuilt about 30k+ miles ago (professionally).

By whose standards, I don't trust anything unless I've watched it myself

 

[scrumpydude]

I only meant that he paid someone else to do it rather than 'having a go'. Agreed, 'professionals' can be quite variable.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

[Banshee]

I only meant that he paid someone else to do it rather than 'having a go'. Agreed, 'professionals' can be quite variable.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

Tell me about it mate, I've seen some awful awful stuff in my time, working in IT for garages

 

[Mav96]

Joerg,

I'll be watching this thread with interest as the problems you describe are similar to mine. I have good days (even weeks) with the gearbox and then bad days/weeks. 1st is the worst gear but it can be 5th as well. Reverse also. I try to time my gear change to 1st when I'm almost at a stop at traffic lights. Stop start traffic can be a nightmare. There is never any grinding of the gears (sounds of teeth meeting) just difficult to get into gear. And as I said it varies. Today was better than the last few days but not perfect. I've gone weeks thinking it's (more or less) fixed itself.

Interesting what Rick said about dropping the end of the gear box. I know (after speaking to the previous owner) that the gearbox was rebuilt about 30k+ miles ago (professionally).

I would check or replace your slave cylinder first, quite a common problem on these motors.

 

[scrumpydude]

I would check or replace your slave cylinder first, quite a common problem on these motors.

Having crawled under the truck last night and observed the slave cylinder this is a job I'm not looking forward to. Looks simple enough but still not looking forward to it.

 

[Banshee]

Having crawled under the truck last night and observed the slave cylinder this is a job I'm not looking forward to. Looks simple enough but still not looking forward to it.

The slave cylinder is a doddle!!!!!

 

[Mav96]

Having crawled under the truck last night and observed the slave cylinder this is a job I'm not looking forward to. Looks simple enough but still not looking forward to it.

This was the first repair I had to do to my Maverick, had it for a week then started having gearbox niggles & clutch slip going up hills, thats how I found this forum, I replaced the master at the same time just in case. No problems since then, over 2 years now.